A Flaw in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

When I look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs in this week’s history reading, there is one section of the triangle that I believe should be switched around.  In my opinion, being and feeling “safe” and out of harm's way should be considered the primary need of humans. Then the basic physiological needs should follow on the next tier.

This is my reasoning. In order to acquire the necessities that all humans need, an individual must to make sure his life is not in any immediate danger.  If an individual feels that his safety is at risk, he needs to resolve this issue before he can set out to look for food or water. Meeting basic human requirements may allow individuals to better protect themselves and their safety, but in order to find these needs, an individual must to feel unthreatened by outside factors.

Even in the Neolithic Age, when civilizations were first establishing themselves, their primary focus was to ensure that they were in a safe environment. They didn’t want to be in an are where they would risk their safety with other civilizations or wild animals before they went out to look for their basic physiological needs.  For them, establishing a safe home came before finding food.

Even in present times, people don't address their physiological needs before they know that it is safe to do so.  Humans want to ensure that they won’t be robbed when making a weakly trip grocery store to pick up food.  Humans need to know that their water is uncontaminated before they turn on the faucet and drink from it. Obtaining safety and security needs to come first on the hierarchy of needs. Without confidence in one’s safety, the basic human needs cannot be obtained.  My rule of survival is to make sure one is not being hunted before one can become a hunter.